Daddy Dearest
by KateToast
Summary: Keely encounters her father one day when she's home with her baby son and debates whether or not to forgive him. Oneshot. Pheely.


**Disclaimer: **I wish Phil of the Future was mine. Sadly, it is not.

**A/N**: I've been sitting on this one for a while and decided to post it. It's completely random (when isn't anything I write?) and sort of focuses on parent-child relationships, i.e. Keely and her father and Keely and her son. I'm really into writing about babies right now for some weird reason, and I alsowanted to address in my own way the mystery that is Keely's absent father.

**XXX**

There goes the crying. Again.

Partially opening one eye, Keely Diffy (it was actually still Teslow; she'd never officially taken her husband's name for news reporting purposes) tried to assess what was going on just a few feet away from the bed. Afternoon sunlight filtered in through the window and stretched to the other side of the room, crossing over the bassinet with gentle warmth.

_You'd think it would help him sleep_, Keely thought to herself as she groaned and lifted herself away from the comfort of fluffy pillows and enveloping blankets. She trudged towards the baby, whose insistent cries were becoming more urgent. She glanced over the sides and saw the tiny bundle of pink, his eyes closed tightly and his mouth opened in a wide 'O' shape. He was noisy, but God, she loved him.

Lifting him up and making sure to cradle his head cautiously, Keely yawned. As she swayed him back and forth, she tried to remember the last time she had had a decent night's sleep. Hell, forget decent _night_, just a decent _nap_. It felt like weeks.

Which, actually, it had been. The baby had been born over one month ago, and he'd only grown louder as the days progressed, forcing Keely to learn the _true_ meaning of 'maternity leave'. '_Have an enjoyable and restful time' my foot_, she snarked in her head, reminiscing about her last day down at the station and the impromptu party they'd thrown her, each guest wishing her luck and well-deserved down-time.

Some down-time. She was up at all hours of the night, barely catching a wink of sleep in between; income seemed to have been shifted from going towards regular needed items like food to dozens and dozens of diapers; she was moody and upset over the added curviness to her figure (though everyone she'd seen had repeatedly told her she looked much more mature post-baby); and her _darling_ husband had to work every day, meaning she was pretty much alone all the time with just a tiny little baby for company.

Not that Keely thought Phil wasn't doing his share in being a parent, but one of them needed to work and since she was the one who had actually _pushed_ a _human being _out of her _body_, she won hands down, no contest.

The baby was becoming quieter now, just making little gurgling noises every so often. His eyes were fluttering shut again and he was growing still once more, and Keely hoped this meant he would sleep for at least another half an hour, forty-five minutes tops, but even that was pushing it.

She placed him back into his bassinet and let him hold on to her finger for a minute until his tiny grip loosened and she was free to pull away. At first, Keely backed up slowly, but then stopped and stared at him for a moment. He was beautiful; there were wisps of dirty blonde hair on top of his head (very similar to his mother's, but darker), his hazel eyes (just like his father's) blinked repeatedly as he grew even more sleepy, his ears and eyes and nose were all perfectly set and balanced. His entire face showed traits from both the Diffy and Teslow lines he'd come from.

Keely finally tore herself away when she was assured he was deep asleep. She was just settling back under the blankets on the bed when she heard the doorbell. Not wanting to wake the sleeping bundle, she quickly flicked on the baby monitor and grabbed the other walkie-talkie-like device to take with her, rushing through the hall and descending down the stairs as fast as possible. She hurried to the front door and opened it, not caring about her appearance, figuring it was her mother or Barbara Diffy or her best friend of over thirteen years, Via. (Besides, she was a new mother; it was the best excuse around for not looking put-together).

The man standing on the other side at first didn't register to Keely. Her mind was too wrapped up in other things, so when she finally got a good look at who was waiting in front of her, she gasped. That was really all she could do, being otherwise paralyzed with shock.

He was tall; extremely tall, well over six feet, and, though he was obviously an older fellow, still looked a little awkward with his long limbs. The khakis he was wearing seemed a bit short, and the blue button-down he was sporting accented his eyes of the same color. His hair was blonde, very light with the exception of the grays in some spots, much lighter than the color of the hair of the baby upstairs, but similar to that of Keely's own.

Which would make sense, since this man on her doorstep was her father.

"Dad!" Keely spluttered out eventually, suddenly becoming aware of her disheveled look; she hadn't showered yet, her hair was up in the messiest bun you could have, her t-shirt and sweat pants most definitely had some stain or another on them, and she was without any make-up.

"Hi, Keely," John Teslow said softly, shyly, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"What are you… what are you doing here?" she stuttered, still caught in surprise.

Her father scratched at the back of his head, not meeting her eyes for a moment. He then lifted his gaze and blue met blue, and looking at him full-on made Keely notice all over again where she got most of her features from. "I was in the neighborhood…" he began, but was silenced from saying the rest by a cry on the baby monitor.

Keely panicked and glanced at the monitor in her hand, forgetting she'd even been holding it. "Oh! Oh, um, I… I need to go check on him…" she said absently, turning. Halfway up the stairs she called back uncertainly, "Just, uh, wait a second!"

A minute later she appeared back downstairs, where John was standing in the same spot. This time, however, the twenty-eight-year-old had the baby in her arms and was bouncing him gently. The elder Teslow observed this with surprise.

"You… have a kid?" he asked, as if her standing there in her doorway shushing a baby and looking completely delirious from lack of sleep didn't confirm his question.

"Uh, yes, I do," Keely said shortly. "Why are you here, Dad?" She used the term 'Dad' loosely.

"Well, like I said, I was in the neighborhood…"

"How did you even know I lived here?"

"I asked one of your neighbors… well, one of the neighbors at your mom's house… she told me you'd moved here after you got married."

"Yeah, uh, we moved from an apartment to the house," Keely explained, not sure what else to do but fill in the gaps. "Like she said, after I got _married_. Four years ago. At the wedding I invited you to. I guess your invitation got lost in the mail? Obviously it didn't reach you," she added a little bitterly, but keeping her voice as even as possible for the baby.

John had the grace to look ashamed of himself. He rubbed his stubble-covered cheek. "I didn't think you'd want me there."

"Well, we'll never know now," Keely stated simply. "Mom got married too, you know, five years ago," she informed him, trying her best to not let anger get the better of her. "He's a great guy. He's… he's here. For her. And for me."

"Yeah, I had, uh, heard," John said slowly. "I thought you'd want me to stay away… out of your life…"

"I do. I did. I… don't know." Keely sighed and stepped backwards. She was too forgiving sometimes. "Look, we can't stand in the doorway forever and I have really nosy neighbors. Come inside."

"Are you sure?"

"No. But come in anyway."

They headed into the house and sat in the living room. John stared at his daughter while Keely kept herself busy by fixing the blanket the baby was wrapped in.

"What's his name?" John questioned suddenly, breaking the silence.

"William," Keely replied, her voice growing gentler at the mere mention of her son. "William Edward Diffy. We call him Will."

"It's nice," John supplied.

"It's a family name," Keely said absently, thinking of her husband's side of the family, of the possibility of Will actually being Phil's great-great uncle or a distant cousin-twice-removed, which would make Phil related to… himself. Which was too confusing for Keely to think about. "So… did you want anything else?" she asked indifferently.

"I wanted to see _you_," John said. "I've finally gotten my act together-"

"Do you really think I believe that? You said that the last time. I went out for two hours, I came back, and you were already gone."

"I know. I wasn't ready then. I freaked out and left. I didn't know what else to do. " Keeping his eyes on his daughter, John put his hands out in front of him, palms-up, as if asking for her to find a fault. "Keely, I want to be in your life again. I want to get to know my grandson and my son-in-law… and my daughter."

"Well you've certainly taken your time," Keely retorted, bouncing Will. "I mean you were gone- the _first_ time- before I could even tie my shoes. You left Mom to provide for us for my entire life. You weren't there for _anything_," she said, becoming emotional. "You missed my first day of school, and my first date, and both of my graduations, and my first big news report, and my wedding, and the birth of my _son_."

"But I want to make up for that!" John protested, also upset. "I… I want a second chance-"

"More like third, or fourth," Keely muttered, ending all discussion. The two sat in heavy silence, not sure how to proceed. After at least two minutes, Keely said slowly, "I think it's time for you to go."

"Keely-"

"Now. Please."

John didn't put up any more of a fight and stood, only somewhat unwillingly. Keely rose also and walked him to the door, Will asleep in her arms. John turned just as he was about to exit, the door open and the whole world lying out in front of him.

"If you change your mind…," he said, handing her a card.

It wasn't until after Keely was sufficiently sure his car had disappeared down the street that she took a good look at the card he had given her. It had a local hotel name at the top, plus a few phone numbers under it and an e-mail address.

Keely crumpled up the piece of paper and left it on the front hall end table before going back upstairs.

**XXX**

The door downstairs slamming open and then shut shocked Keely awake from the nap she'd been having a few hours after the visit from her father. She shifted so her back was to the mattress, leaving her to stare at the ceiling. She was surprised Will hadn't been startled by the noises on the first floor as she had been.

Not even a minute later Keely heard footsteps trudging up the stairs and someone approaching the room. The door was cautiously pushed open and then a head popped out around the side.

Keely only smiled when she saw Phil do the same when he caught her eyes and realized she wasn't sleeping. He tip-toed in and only stopped momentarily to take a glance at the baby before finishing his trek to the bed and collapsing on his side with a large sigh.

"Hey there," he said softly, shifting his body sideways to face Keely. She turned her head towards him and he took the chance to kiss her quickly. "I thought you'd be asleep."

"I just woke up," Keely told him.

"I figured you were conked out when you didn't answer the phone when I called an hour ago."

"Yeah."

"You'd think Will would have woken up too."

"Uh huh."

Phil lifted an eyebrow at his wife's abruptness. Keely turned her head once more to look at the ceiling again.

With some trepidation, Phil asked, "So… how was your day?"

"Fine," Keely replied with indifference. "Will wasn't too bad today; I sent a few e-mails, checked in with some people at work, talked to Via, saw my dad, caught a nap-"

"Wait, wait, whoa. You saw your _dad_?" Phil's eyes grew wide and he sat up and leaned against the headboard. Keely did the same. "Where? Why?"

"Here. He was in the neighborhood and he found out where we lived and he came over and we talked- well, actually, it was really just me chewing him out- for a few minutes, and then I asked him to leave… and he did. And he left a card with the name of the hotel he's staying at and some phone numbers. I just… left it on the table. I couldn't deal with it."

Phil whistled. "Wow."

"Yeah."

"How do you… feel? About seeing him again?"

"Well I wasn't exactly _expecting_ him," Keely said with a hard tone. "I mean I haven't seen or heard from him since junior year of high school, so I'd pretty much made my peace with the whole thing by now, you know? I have my life now here with you and Will and my mom and David and working at the station…"

"But?" Phil supplied slowly, knowing there was more.

Keely shrugged and folded her hands on her lap. She paused as her eyes grew watery. "I used to always imagine the day my dad would come back," she revealed, her voice unsteady. "Back when I was younger. I'd picture him walking through the front door and yelling, 'I'm home!', and my mom and I would rush towards him and he'd hug both of us and swing me around and tell me that he missed me… of course, as I grew older the idea changed; I'd imagine him surprising me by picking me up from school one day or somehow getting me out of class to play hooky and spending time with me, or showing up when I was hanging out with my friends and acting as if it was the most normal thing in the world, like he'd always meant to show up and now he finally _was_."

Phil placed a hand over his wife's as she wiped away a tear coursing down her cheek, letting her continue, "The idea changed… but the one thing that was always constant was that he _always_ had a reason for not being around. There was something pressing he needed to do that forced him to give up me and my mom: he had to go off and fight in the army or was a top-secret spy for the CIA or he had needed to go be Superman for a few years. But he never did any of that; he doesn't have an excuse to give me."

"I'm sorry, Keel," Phil whispered, his face a mask. "What did he want?"

Letting her eyes drop to Phil's hand over her own, she replied, "I don't even know. I guess… to see me. To see us."

"Do you not want to see him?"

"I don't know. I mean what right does he have to come and try to establish a relationship with me after all of this time? He tried it ten years ago and if I remember correctly, he was gone before the day was out. How could he just assume I'd let him back into my life?"

"I don't know…"

"All my life I had wanted a dad, a father, that guy you can look up to and know is going protect you. The guy you know is going to always be there."

"I'm always going to be here, Keel," Phil interjected firmly. "You know that."

"I do… I _do_ know that. And that's wonderful for Will, that his father is always going to be around, but for me… it isn't the same, you know?"

"I know." Phil lifted his hand off of hers and wiped away the few stray tears left making their way down her face.

There was stirring from the bassinet and a small whimper broke the silence. Keely rubbed her face and began to move to get up, but Phil stopped her. "I've got him," he said.

He stood and walked to the other side of the room and bent over. William blinked up at him with those hazel eyes so similar to Phil's own. He smiled at his son, _his son_, and carefully lifted him in his arms and brought him back over to the bed. Phil could never imagine abandoning his own child for any reason, ever.

"So… what are you going to do?" Phil asked after a while of husband and wife fawning over their child.

Keely sighed. "I don't know," she admitted honestly as Will held tightly onto her finger. "What do you think I should do?"

"I think you should do whatever feels right. Maybe your dad _does_ deserve another chance. But on the other hand…" he trailed off, knowing she understood.

Keely smiled a little at Phil. "Thank you," she whispered. "I think I know what I'll do."

"It's what I'm here for." Phil paused, and then cautiously questioned, "So, uh… what's your decision? Last I checked there was a crumpled up piece of paper downstairs with some very important information on it, waiting to either be read, or thrown away."

Standing suddenly and heading towards the door, Keely only called back, "I think I'll call him… and see what happens."

Phil nodded proudly. "Good." He turned his attention back to the baby in his arms. "Well, Will, maybe you'll get to meet your other grandpa sooner than I thought, if things go well between him and your mom."

Will gurgled in response.

**XXX**

_End._


End file.
